Uterus rental: Regulating surrogacy in China

The development of surrogacy technology has brought hope to families with reproductive disorders. The current surrogacy regulations show that China has always been strictly against any form of surrogacy, but illegal surrogacy is still widespread. The departmental rule on surrogacy has a legal loophole; it does not clearly stipulate the legal consequences for involved parties who breach the regulation. China has not yet established a mature supervision and implementation hierarchy. The monitoring system for surrogacy is restricted to administrative special rectification; the prevention mechanism and the deterrence effect are not in place. Therefore, this article investigates illegal surrogacy in China, re-examines the current regulatory framework of surrogacy in China from the perspectives of legislation and supervision and suggests some changes needed to deal with the legal challenges posed by surrogacy.